“And it was lucky for us he has attacked the throne, and not us.”
“But, mark this well, M. Colbert. M. d’Herblay is never discouraged; if he has missed one blow, he will be sure to make another; he will begin again. If he has allowed an opportunity to escape of making a king for himself, sooner or later, he will make another, of whom, to a certainty, you will not be prime minister.”
Colbert knitted his brow with a menacing expression. “I feel assured that a prison will settle this affair for us, madame, in a manner satisfactory for both.”
The duchesse smiled again.
“Oh! if you knew,” said she, “how many times Aramis has got out of prison!”
“Oh!” replied Colbert, “we will take care that he shall not get out this time.”
“But you were not attending to what I said to you just now. Do you remember that Aramis was one of the four invincibles whom Richelieu so dreaded? And at that period the four musketeers were not in possession of that which they have now—money and experience.”
Colbert bit his lips.
“We will renounce the idea of the prison,” said he, in a lower tone: “we will find a little retreat from which the invincible cannot possibly escape.”
“That was well spoken, our ally!” replied the duchesse. “But it is getting late; had we not better return?”